Enna settled the now loudly snoring boy into her arms. “I had to tell. Too many women breaking into our lodgings to not say. I’m sorry for being disloyal, Mrs. Charity.”
“Enna, all is well.”
“That may be, but don’t . . .” My friend turned her head toward Lady Ashbrook, who stood over Felton looking at a few of my hung pieces—paintings of Agatha and Amelia, another of Ballard Cliffs near Warwick.
“Mrs. Cecilia, only say no more.We are in mixed company.”
My sister shook her head. “Jemina is my dearest friend. She’s my sister. She—”
I crossed my hands to keep from pointing at the redhead. “She’s not Helena. She can never replace her. No one can.”
Cheeks growing dark, like roses on snow, Lady Ashbrook went to the door. “Perhaps I’ll—”
“Stop, Jemina. Come here.” Patience’s tone was hard. “Take my palm, sister.” She lifted her arm to that woman, not me.
Lady Ashbrook returned and clasped Patience’s fingers and held on to them like it was a lifeline.
“This, Chari, Enna, this woman has proven herself over and over to me. Jemina saved my life when I was imprisoned. She helped me get back my son. Don’t cut her, direct or otherwise.”
“And Patience kept me sane when I thought I wasn’t.” Lady Ashbrook pulled their entwined fingers to her chest. “She’s my sister too, but I’ll wait in the hall if that means you two will reconcile. No more fighting with those who should love.”
Enna and I surely sounded mean-spirited. “I’m sorry, Lady Ashbrook. It has been hard here. Many here have looked at my curves as if I were some sort of jezebel. Other’s think I’m after their husband. I have a husband that I left. I’ve no need of theirs.”
Looking again at him, I heard his snores. He was still unconscious.
“Or they think Enna and I should be cleaning their houses.” I stooped and waved my hand at his face to see if he was faking. Felton didn’t snore, from what I remembered.
He must be waking up.
Crossing my arms, I stood. “I’ve no problem with honest work, but Patience knows I lost interest in sweeping many moons ago.”
“Yes, you weren’t very good at chores. Always off in the corner painting. I hope we all will be friends, but no one, not a soul, will replace Helena. She was the sweetest girl ever. Now, tell me while my face is already swollen with tears what you know of her enslavement, as Enna said.”
“My father-in-law tried to help me bring my sister from Demerara. He was willing to run the blockades. Tramel has been a good friend. Then his solicitor found out that she’d been sold into slavery by her husband, Jeremiah Gladstone. The way his mother and their entire family behave, he must not have wanted to bring back another Demeraran woman or baby to these shores.”
My nervous laugh started. “One of my first theatre commissions was for a play calledWowski. It’s about a man who sells his lover. I thought it just a twisted dark story. Something to make the beastly theatre patrons go wild, the salacious nature of it all.”
I looked to the ceiling, willing my eyes not to run with tears. “Jeremiah Gladstone is the embodiment of evil. You know he laughed the day I left my husband, his cousin. He taunted me with what he’d done.”
Jemina handed me an embroidered handkerchief. White and starched with a big letter A. A was alpha, the beginning. I had to own my part in all this sad stew. “I chose to marry and didn’t take Helena with me. Papa thought it best that I go first and establish my household. She was so young. Another year at home wouldn’t matter. Then the war set up blockades. No one could legally get to Demerara. Then Papa’s death left her vulnerable.”
“How did you get to her and Noah, Lady Gantry?” Lady Ashbrook looked down at my husband as she handled the other ugly vase.
“Tramel, my father-in-law, cares not for rules.”
Patience glanced at me with a countenance that wasn’t blank. It held questions, questions my heart wasn’t prepared to answer, about rules and the duke.
CHAPTER40
CECILIA—A NEWBARGAIN
Felton began to stir.
Wasn’t sure how to explain everything.
Lady Ashbrook dropped the second vase on Felton’s head. “Oops.”
“That has to hurt.” Enna shook her head, then handed the awakening Noah to my sister. “But the vase was ugly, Mrs. Cecilia.”
